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SBJ 9 Broad Street #7 Glens Falls, NY 12801

SARATOGA BUSINESS JOURNAL

VOL. 27 NO. 09

HH The Business Newspaper of Saratoga County HH

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GLENS FALLS, NY 12801 PERMIT #600

NOVEMBER 2022

www.saratogabusinessjournal.com

Developers Of Adelphi, Rip Van Dam Hotel Officials Hold Ceremony To Fete The Project Project May Sell The Units As Condominiums Bringing High-Speed Internet To The City

As part of the redevelopment project, The Adelphi and the former Rip Van Dam will be connected and operate as one entity. The Rip Van Dam is being expanded and renovated. BY CHRISTINE GRAF When longtime friends and business partners Michael Dubb and Larry Roth began redevelopment of the historic Rip Van Dam in downtown Saratoga Springs, they planned for the 200,000-square-foot building to include 84 apartments. They are now considering marketing the units as condominiums. “Nothing about the building is changing,” said Michael Dubb who is also the owner of Beechwood Homes on Long Island. “The

only question is whether it will be rental or sale on the apartment side of it.” As part of the redevelopment project, The Adelphi and the former Rip Van Dam will be connected and operate as one entity. The building that housed the Rip Van Dam is being expanded and renovated, and the exterior façade has already been updated. In addition to the 84 apartment or condominiums, the building will feature 31 hotel rooms, underground parking, a spa, a Continued On Page 15

Saratoga Springs city officials and SiFi Networks celebrated the official groundbreaking of the Saratoga Springs FiberCity project on Oct. 25, a fiberoptic network being built citywide to improve digital connectivity in the city. Once complete, the $32 million venture, being funded privately, will see high-speed fiber infrastructure available to every household, business, and institution within city limits, officials said. Work to construct the network began earlier this year with the first homes scheduled to go-live in the fall of 2023. The entire city is slated for completion in 2024. Officials also announced that the internet service provider GigabitNow has signed on to be first provider on the network, offering speeds up to 10 Gigabits per second—among the fastest internet speeds in the United States, according to SiFi. “This is a once-in-a-generation infrastructure project that will usher in a new era of high-speed connectivity, digital inclusion, digital readiness, and new opportunities to expand and innovate in our local economy,” said Jason Golub, city commissioner of Public Works. Unlike a typical fiber network, the FiberCity is being built as an open access network, meaning that with one connection, residents and businesses can access multiple service providers for high-speed internet service, Smart City applications, telehealth, streaming video, voice, and other uses, officials said. On an open access network, service providers compete for customers based on service, price, and reliability, essentially disrupting the decades-old monopoly or

Robert Heaps of SiFi Networks speaks at a gathering of city and business leaders. Stefanie DiMartino

duopoly model that phone companies and internet providers have long enjoyed. “Once complete, our residents and businesses will benefit from competition,” said Golub. Officials said one key element of Saratoga Springs’ FiberCity network is that it is being made available to every address—business, residential, and institution—within the city. This includes low-income housing units that are typically passed over by internet service providers. “We’re excited to partner with the city and celebrate full-scale construction of the Saratoga Springs FiberCity. We believe that everyone in the community deserves access to high-speed fiber infrastructure—conContinued On Page 17

Chamber’s ‘Love Our Locals’ Restaurant Saratoga Quality Hardware Adds Lumberyard Promotion Running Through End Of Year For Professional Contractors And DIY People The Saratoga County Chamber of Commerce is running its Love Our Locals $20.22 promotion at local restaurants through the remainder of the year. The campaign supports local businesses and nonprofit organizations throughout Saratoga County. “When the pandemic hit, we were focused on saving our locals,” said Todd Shimkus, president, Saratoga County Chamber of Commerce. “The outpouring of support to help boost the county’s economic recovery over the last few years has been monumental and we want the momentum to continue. Our community is so vibrant thanks, in part, to our local businesses and nonprofit organizations. We want to continue to show them the love.” Residents and tourists can support a Saratoga County business or nonprofit by spending or donating $20.22 or more at participating eateries. They will be eligible to enter a gift card giveaway. Individuals are encouraged to email a photo of their receipt of $20.22 or more to loveourlocals@saratoga.org for entry. Each week, the Chamber will randomly select winners for $100 gift cards to businesses across the county. Funds to purchase the gift cards came from a Saratoga County Board of Supervisors grant. The grant money was part of a COVID-19 fund reserved for small, local nonprofit organizations who helped small businesses bounce back from the impact of COVID-19. “We were impressed with the Chamber’s efforts to save our local businesses in 2020, and again in 2021,” said Matthew Veitch, a county supervisor representing Saratoga Springs. “We are honored to be in a position where we can support the Chamber

The Love Our Locals $20.22 promotion at local restaurants runs through year’s end. in its mission to ensure our local small businesses remain part of our community.” “Whether shopping for the holidays, getting your hair done, donating to charity, sweating it out during a fitness class, dining in, or taking out, your purchase or donation of $20.22 or more counts,” said Shimkus. “Along with that, we want everyone to think even bigger this year – if you hire a local lawn care company or someone to plow your driveway, if you work with a contractor to remodel your kitchen, if you visit your doctor for an eye exam – these types of services from local businesses all count.” For more information on Love Our Locals $20.22, visit: www.saratoga.org/love-our-locals.

BY JILL NAGY A 5,520-square-foot lumberyard, building supply, and design center has been added to Saratoga Quality Hardware at 110 Excelsior Ave. in Saratoga Springs. The new addition was partially opened in July and now is fully expanded. “We had some kinks we wanted to work out,” said Louise Eddy, who owns Saratoga Quality Hardware and its sister store in Hudson Falls, Burgoyne Quality Hardware. “This lumberyard has been on the drawing board for a long time,” Eddy said. “We are excited to expand our selection for our Saratoga area customers and bring them the same premium lumber and high quality building materials we have been selling in our Hudson Falls lumberyard.” The Hudson Falls store added a drive-through lumberyard—consisting of two flatbed trucks with forklifts—in 2002. The Saratoga yard is a conventional store, not a drive-through. In addition to lumber, it sells roofing materials, siding, and other building materials. There is also a design center, essentially a showroom for paints and similar decorating materials, including samples and informational literature. Also available are Weathershield windows and Eddy plans displays of that line of merchandise in a few months. The lumberyard is designed to meet the needs of both professional contractors and do-it-yourselfers. So far, Eddy said, the majority of their customers have been professional contractors. The staff includes three dedicated employees, supplemented by other sales personnel as needed. Sam Smead, a 20-year veteran of the lumber and building supplies business, manages the lumber-

yard. Greg Wood, another experienced hand, is the new inside sales representative for the design center. Eddy has owned the company for 12 years. The decision to expand into the lumber business was based upon the availability of space and the location. In the past, Saratoga customers were referred to Hudson Falls to purchase lumber. Saratoga Quality Hardware is open from 7 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday to Friday; 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Saturday, and 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Sunday. Further information is available on the company’s website, SaratogaQualityHardware.com. The telephone number for the Saratoga store is 518-584-9180.